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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429017">The Cavern and the Koi Pond</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie447/pseuds/Rosie447'>Rosie447</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author Takes Liberties with Spirit World Lore, Fang the Emotional Support Dragon, Gen, Spirit World, Tests of Character, The Fog of Lost Souls, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko-gets-yoinked-with-Zhao AU, character study with plot</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:33:57</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,596</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23429017</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie447/pseuds/Rosie447</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The last thing Zuko remembered clearly was being on the bridge in the North Pole, and losing his grip on the railing with the sudden realization that offering mercy to the man who’d thrown fire at his back the last time he’d beaten him was perhaps not amongst his best ideas.</p>
<p>Or, Zhao takes Zuko's hand and pulls. The Spirit World is not entirely sure what to do with the unexpected stowaway.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Roku &amp; Yue (Avatar), Zuko &amp; Fang (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>318</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3016</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>A:tla, Cay's Completed Fics, Good_or_Decent_Zuko_With_a_dash_of_Iroh_Azula_Gaang, The Best of Avatar the Last Airbender, escapism (to forget that the world is a burning hellscape)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Fog of Lost Souls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The general consensus amongst those assembled (which had not, of course, been everyone with an opinion on the matter) was that it was an unfortunate turn of events - they hadn’t <em>meant </em>to send the boy into the fog of lost souls <em> - </em>but there was little they could do about it at this point since he was <em>there</em> - and really, whose fault was that, since he would have been safely on his own plane of existence had he not made the decision to offer assistance to the man who had just <em>murdered the moon spirit </em>- and they had no means of retrieving him without getting involved, which they had all agreed not to do quite some time ago. No human had ever left the fog before. </p><p>Those in opposition had argued that reaching out to help the human admiral had been an act of compassion and mercy, and the fact that the other had used it as an opportunity to clamp his hand over the boy’s wrist and drag him alongside him into punishment was another sign that he was a particularly vile human being.</p><p>The general assembly said the latter had never been a subject of debate, it was simply a generally accepted fact. But the fact remained that he’d spent the better portion of three years <em> hunting </em> the Avatar (when he was missing), and the majority of the past month <em> chasing </em> the Avatar (when he was found) which showed that, while not guilty to the normal extent of calling spirit interference, it wasn’t exactly as if they were dealing with some kind of saint, and he really ought to be punished somewhat. </p><p>He’s sixteen, those in opposition said. He’s a child.</p><p><em> Oh, he’s the one who's been hunting the Avatar? </em> , asked one river spirit, who had not been fully paying attention to the conversation up until this point. <em> I met him once. Humans today have such interesting hobbies. </em></p><p>And thus the debate fell into a circular pattern, as debates often do, making absolutely no progress forwards. From the edge of the assembly, Avatar Roku was beginning to get a migraine, which shouldn’t have been possible for a spirit. They were, after all, discussing transgressions <em> his </em> great-grandson had made against <em> his </em>future incarnation. He felt that this combination of factors made him uniquely qualified to speak on the matter, and wondered why exactly he was there since no one seemed to be interested in letting him speak at all. As if sensing his annoyance, Fang began to paw the ground, like a cat-fox kneading. Amongst humans, the movement of an overlarge dragon was typically met with rapt attention, but amongst spirits, it mostly went unnoticed.</p><p>“What do you think?” Roku asked the dragon, scratching the underside of his chin, which prompted a grating noise that, while terrifying from an outside perspective, was actually the dragon equivalent of purring, and not at all helpful. “He’s going to wake up soon.”</p><p>Fang continued purring, though he did look generally concerned. It seemed they were in agreement on that front, at least.</p><p>“We could always send in the wolves to kill him,” one spirit offered, far too casually. “Then he wouldn’t be trapped in the fog. He probably would have drowned anyway if he didn’t end up here. Humans don’t live particularly long.”</p><p>There was a murmur of agreement.</p><p>“The wolves would tear him apart,” argued one of the defenders. “It would be incredibly painful, for a human.”</p><p>“Humans are always in pain,” the first spirit said, shrugging. “Besides, it’s more merciful than leaving him to wander.”</p><p>The unfortunate truth of the matter was that she was not incorrect. There was a reason they trapped only the worst prisoners in the fog of lost souls. The wolves would be quicker, and kinder. But Roku was not inclined to agree to have a sixteen-year-old boy torn apart by spirit wolves because he’d shown mercy towards a rival who’d undermined him at every turn. </p><p>“Perhaps we could give him a test.”</p><p>The collected assembly quieted somewhat. Up until this point, the girl had been silent, observing but not speaking. She was new and cautious. The moon spirit had selected its host well, Roku thought.</p><p>“What sort of test?”</p><p>“A chance to escape,” Yue continued, glancing nervously around, as if she somewhat regretted having drawn attention to herself, but had had her fill of listening to people discuss the fate of a human being so callously. “I didn’t know him - Zuko - on earth,” she said. “But his uncle was wise and kind and respected the spirits. Should we not give him the chance to prove the same?”</p><p>“That’s an excellent idea,” Roku said, and the girl seemed to visibly relax. It was clever. If there was anything spirits enjoyed more than arguing, it was crafting tests for humans. “A simple test of character.” Something not especially difficult, that the boy would be almost certain to pass. His great-grandson was fundamentally principled, albeit easily swayed. Certainly capable of demonstrating basic decency, other personality flaws aside. </p><p>“It would not be a <em> simple </em>test,” huffed one of the mountain spirits. “No one has ever left the fog before. If he wishes to leave, he must demonstrate exceptional valor.”</p><p>“And extraordinary bravery,” another added.</p><p>“And the ability to change and adapt.”</p><p>“To question what he has been taught.”</p><p>“And make great sacrifices for the good of others!”</p><p>“And do complex numerical sums!” added the river spirit, who was still not entirely paying attention, but thought that he ought to say something.</p><p>This was all shaping up to be a fair bit more than Roku had planned for, and more than Yue had expected, as the group clustered together, competing now to come up with the most challenging, and difficult tasks they could. She looked at him nervously.</p><p>“This might be getting out of hand,” she said.</p><p>“This is the spirit world,” Roku said. “Things are always getting out of hand.” He turned to Fang, who was now resting his head on the edge of the table. “They’ll tire themselves out before they come to an agreement, and he’ll be awake by then,” he told the dragon. “Look after him for me.” </p><hr/><p>The last thing Zuko remembered clearly was being on the bridge in the North Pole, and losing his grip on the railing with the sudden realization that offering mercy to the man who’d thrown fire at his back the last time he’d beaten him was perhaps not amongst his best ideas. Everything that happened afterward was a slightly confusing rush of blurred images and water, which left his head aching and his fingers freezing. </p><p>The first thing he saw when he came to was the bases of several trees, stretching upward into obscurity amongst the thick fog. The second thing he saw was the dragon. </p><p>It was massive and shimmered with something not of earth, its eyes boring down upon him. Zuko stiffened and closed his eyes again, deciding that, if the dragon had decided not to flay him whilst he was unconscious, it would be in his best interest that it continue to think he was. The fact that he tensed and rolled over slightly while doing so somewhat killed the illusion. </p><p>A massive paw prodded his side, and it was all he could do not to yelp and curl in on himself. He was prodded again, much stronger this time, and it sent him rolling across the ground, and into a rock.</p><p>“Hey!” he said, much too loudly for an unconscious person, and sat up.</p><p>The dragon looked at him intently, it’s head cocking slightly to the side. </p><p>“I mean, um,” Zuko searched for a more polite and reverent synonym for ‘hey’ and came up empty. Instead, he opted for “please don’t eat me.”</p><p>The dragon huffed as if it were slightly offended by the implication and walked towards him, lowering its head to sniff him thoughtfully, before biting down gently on the back of his shirt and lifting him up to his feet, like a cat-fox lifting up its kitten by the scruff of its neck. Zuko didn’t know entirely what to make of this but thought it best to remain very, very still.</p><p>“I, um,” Zuko started to continue before glancing down at the ground.</p><p> He was barefoot, standing in a thick, burred moss, and not wearing the clothes he had been in when he was last awake. While this alone would have been unnerving, it could have been chalked up to his old clothes being removed to keep him from freezing, but the fact remained that Uncle was nowhere to be seen, and he very much doubted even the most open-minded North Pole healer would have decided to dress him in Fire Nation red. Not to mention that he was completely dry, the air was not particularly cold, and there were not, to his knowledge, any forests near the Northern Water Tribe.</p><p>“Where am I?” he asked the dragon. Then he remembered that dragons were extinct. “Am I dead?”</p><p>The dragon did not respond, except to knead the ground in front of it before slowly sitting down in front of Zuko, examining him carefully, as if it had several expectations of him, none of which were being met. </p><p>“Is this the afterlife?” In which case, the burrs and the fog did not bode particularly well. “Did I drown when - Zhao.” The last syllable was flat, and Zuko glared at nothing in particular.</p><p>“Did I drown because Zhao dragged me into - because I didn’t even <em> want </em> to, it just seemed like the sort of thing that Uncle might do and the Ocean Spirit was huge and angry, and I didn’t even have anything to <em> do </em> with that - I just - I - I - agh!” He curled his hands into fists and stomped his foot against the ground, which was petulant and he knew it, but if he’d died because Zhao had insisted on having the last word in absolutely everything then he decided he had the right to be a little petulant. “That’s not fair!”</p><p>The dragon did not move in response to this.</p><p>“I can’t just be dead,” he decided, even though he was somewhat close to death on a daily basis. “I’ve got a lot of things I still need to do. I need to capture the Avatar! I need to - I need to see Uncle! He’s already lost his son once, I can’t just <em> leave </em> him.” He was a lackluster replacement for Lu Ten and he knew it, but Uncle still cared somehow and had said, he had <em> said, </em> right before he saw him last and Zuko really couldn’t do that to him. Especially not like this. Not for <em> Zhao. </em></p><p>Who had apparently decided it was a good idea to <em> kill the Moon Spirit. </em></p><p>In all his research about the Avatar, Zuko had found one common thread, which was that people should not mess with spirit affairs. Spirits were strong and elusive, and only really the Avatar knew or could know what went on in the spirit world because most of the humans who entered did not come back. And there was this forest, this forest full of fog where the spirits kept humans who interfered and they were forced to live there and relive their worst memories over and over again until - </p><p>Zuko swore. </p><p>He turned to face the dragon. “I’m in the Spirit World, aren’t I?”</p><p>Zuko was not particularly adept in interpreting the facial expressions of dragons, but this one appeared to be thinking, <em> took you long enough. </em></p><p>“This is the Fog of Lost Souls. And I’m trapped here. Because of Zhao. And the Ocean Spirit.”</p><p>It’s continued silence was all the confirmation he needed.</p><p>He wanted to break something, or better yet, light something on fire, which was impossible since you couldn’t bend in the spirit world, so he decided to satisfy the urge by kicking the nearest tree. The trunk was as hard as stone, and a jolt of pain shot up through his leg, and he yelped, stumbling back, and eventually fell ungracefully to the forest floor clutching his foot and using a few choice phrases from the list of swear words he’d picked up from the sailors on his ship.</p><p>(And yes, he had, in fact, kept a list. He’d been thirteen and sound carried on a metal ship, and no one had really sworn in front of him before, so he’d written down all the new phrases he could, just for research purposes, and then Uncle had found his list, tucked away on his shelf full of scrolls and notes on the Avatar, and sat him down and said that if he wanted to use certain words, he had to know what they meant and then proceeded to go through the list <em> explaining </em> in <em> excruciating detail </em> until Zuko had given up and refused to swear in front of him <em> ever. </em>)</p><p>The dragon watched all of this, moving to rest it’s head on its tail, looking either amused or very, very tired. Potentially both.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” Zuko said after a prolonged silence. “I, um, I’m better now.”</p><p>He wasn’t. His foot still hurt, there were burrs clinging to his legs, and there was a decent chance he was going to spend the rest of eternity wandering around a forest, trailed by shades of the worst moments of his life, of which there were many, but destructing without fire was hollow and pointless. He thought he might sit there, on the ground, for a while.</p><p>Maybe for the foreseeable future.</p><hr/><p>They came to a decision after a time which was somewhat incalculable due to the fluctuating time-space that was the Spirit World but could best be described by Roku as <em> far too long. </em>The test was simple and somewhat elegant in its construction, and they’d managed to eliminate the majority of the advanced mathematics, much to the disappointment of the distracted river spirit. </p><p>“Do you think he can pass it?” Yue asked quietly. She had strayed closer to Roku as the meeting went on. </p><p>“I don’t know.” The spirit assembly, although discordant, was exceptionally clever in playing on a person’s weaknesses. “If he does, I will try to help him once he’s escaped the fog.”</p><p>“And if he doesn’t?”</p><p>“There might not be anything else we can do for him.” Roku paused. “Your compassion is appreciated. I know he was your enemy.”</p><p>“I liked his Uncle,” she said simply. “And I meant what I said. I think he ought to be given a chance.”</p><p>Together, they looked towards the reflecting pool. He was talking to Fang, who seemed to have decided that “look after him for me” meant “stare at him unnervingly and pick him up like a dragling when deemed necessary.” </p><p>“He’s very angry,” Yue noted, as he stomped on the ground, glaring at nothing in particular.</p><p>“Rage burns hot and fast,” Roku agreed, somewhat sadly. “In that respect, he takes after Sozin.” </p><p>Then Zuko kicked a tree and fell to the ground, yelping and swearing. Yue turned to him and arched an eyebrow.</p><p>“He gets that from Sozin as well.”</p><p>She appeared unconvinced. </p><hr/><p>Zuko had never excelled at the art of contemplative silence. </p><p>When he was little, he remembered his firebending instructor had sat him down with the rest of the class and told them all to meditate. To sit and focus on their breathing and feel the warmth from the sun and just <em> be. </em> Apparently it was good for the chi. But the pure silence, sitting perfectly still, had always been a challenge. He’d feel the warmth of the sun, uncomfortable between his shoulder blades, and have to resist the urge to fidget, or switch positions, or clear his mind because there were so many things he had to <em> think </em> about, and how did you even sit and think about nothing, anyway? </p><p>After his - after he - after they’d begun their hunt for the Avatar, he’d tried many times. Sitting still, in the dark, trying to think about nothing but breathing. But it was <em> hard. </em> And it was <em> boring, </em> and <em> generally unproductive </em>because he ended meditation sessions no more relaxed than he had been when he’d first begun. </p><p>All of this to say that he did not sit on the forest floor for long.</p><p>Instead, he stood up, brushing off the burrs, and turned to the dragon, who he was relatively certain at this point was not going to try to burn or eat him. What its motivations were, he was not certain, but he would take it.</p><p>“My name’s Zuko,” he said. The dragon shifted in acknowledgment. If it found his inability to meditate judgment-worthy, it did not show. “Do you have a name?”</p><p>It occurred to him a beat later that the dragon, if it had a name, would have no means to communicate it.</p><p>“Right,” he corrected. “I mean, is it alright if I call you something?”</p><p>The dragon seemed to nod at that.</p><p>“Okay,” he said. “I’ll, um, I’ll come up with a list of names. Let me know if there’s one you like.” Zuko had no idea what sort of names were appropriate for a dragon. Did they have animal-names, or human-names? Or perhaps spirit-names? Then again, spirits did not typically share spirit-names with humans, so it was probably called <em> something </em>by humans that was more accessible. </p><p>“Okay. Li?” The dragon looked unimpressed. That was fair. “Spirit?” He did not need the dragon to confirm that that was a dumb idea. The Avatar called his animal companion… something. A fruit, maybe? “Um, Mango?” </p><p>That was met with what might have been the dragon equivalent of a snort, but looked distinctly more amused than offended.He had not set Zuko on fire yet, which was a good sign.</p><p>“Okay, Mango it is, then.” </p><p>Mango the dragon flicked his tail back and forth, which seemed to settle the matter.</p><p>“I’m going to look around,” Zuko said. “You can, um, come with, I guess.”</p><p> He turned, trying to take stock of his surroundings, a task made infinitely more challenging by the heaviness of the fog. It was disorienting, the sense of being both completely surrounded and isolated all at the same time, and Zuko decided he was grateful for Mango’s silent presence.</p><p> (He’d been to a Fire Nation prison, once, when he was around ten years old. His father had dragged him and Azula, and gestured to the rows upon rows of iron cages, suspended in the air to deprive waterbenders of water, and the freezers, designed to keep firebenders away from heat. Unable to bend, and completely isolated. <em> This, </em> he said, <em> is what the fire nation does to its enemies. </em>One of the prisoners had seen them, and thrown herself against the walls of the cage, hissing something about the day of penance, and what lovely children the Firelord had. Azula had summoned a flame in her palm. Zuko had backed away. Their father had swept them both along, muttering something darkly to the guard. The woman had begun to scream before they’d reached the end of the hallway, and Zuko had heard the echo in his sleep every night for weeks after.)</p><p>A crunch of footfalls on branches drew him back to the present. Zuko began to walk towards the sound. Mango swept his tail in front of him, blocking the path. Zuko turned to him and bowed, pressing his palm against his fist. </p><p>“I will return,” he said. “I’m just going to check and see what-”</p><p>He was cut off by a scrambling, as a figure emerged from the fog, his face pale and gray, with overlong gray hair curling in front of his face. The man stopped upon seeing him, before running towards him, nearly falling and grabbing fistfuls of Zuko’s shirt for support as he sank to his knees. His eyes appeared glossed over, and his grip was weak and trembling. </p><p>“I’ll give it back,” the man said. “I just need more time. You understand, don’t you? Just a bit more time.”</p><p>“I -”</p><p>“A person makes a mistake,” he continued, the following laugh harsh and humorless. “I lost it, but I can find it again. The people in the village - they’ve been keeping it from me. They’re conspiring. I know they are. And if I have to search <em> every last one of them - </em>it’s not my fault. You have to understand.”</p><p>Zuko grit his teeth, prying the man’s hands off him. He collapsed to the ground at Zuko’s feet. </p><p>“I don’t know who you are, or what you’re talking about.”</p><p>“I am not a thief!” A hand clamped around his ankle surprisingly tight. </p><p>“Let go of me!” He stepped backward, kicking to dislodge himself.</p><p>“They don’t understand - but I’ll find it. Burn every house to the ground. They can’t hide it then. They can’t hide it.”</p><p>“I said, let go!” He finally pulled away, stumbling from the sudden lack of force.</p><p>“I can burn them,” the man repeated, as if Zuko was not there at all, withered hands rising in front of his face in motion Zuko recognized. It was a firebending move, but one which produced nothing in this world. “Then they’ll see. It’s all a misunderstanding.” His eyes trailed back and forth, following flames which were not there.</p><p>Zuko took a few tentative steps back before running, tripping over the underbrush back towards Mango, where he jumped back into the protective circle the dragon’s sprawled form created, his heart hammering in his chest. Just beyond his vision, he heard the man’s voice continue, hushed whispers. <em> Burn them all to the ground.  </em></p><hr/><p>“He’s calling the dragon Mango?” Yue asked.</p><p>“It appears so.” </p><p>And it was <em> just </em>like Fang to adopt the most ridiculous name possible. Fang was Roku’s oldest friend, and it had taken him a while to recognize the dragon’s sense of humor. Then again, he had been named with the enthusiasm of a young boy who could not help but keep picturing the arm-length fangs of a fully-grown dragon. </p><p>Perhaps difficulty naming things was a family trait.</p><hr/><p>He did not stray away from Mango for several minutes, coming to the conclusion that, on some level, the dragon’s presence was protecting him from the horrors that might otherwise have surrounded him. Why, Zuko was not entirely certain, but he was grateful for it, and worried that if he worked up the courage to ask, the dragon might leave. And so, he said nothing.</p><p>He did not want to think about the man in the shadows.</p><p>He did not want to think about what shadows might come for him.</p><p>At the edge of his field of vision, a light appeared, first small, but steadily growing until it took the form of a cloaked figure, face completely obscured. Zuko froze for a second, before remembering himself, and kneeling, pressing his face to the ground.</p><p>“Look up.” The voice was authoritative and dispassioned, and he could not tell if it was angry or not. He looked up.</p><p>“Do you know where you are?”</p><p>“I - I believe so,” he said. “My lord.” He was not entirely certain of the titles to which one attributed a mysterious glowing figure that approaches one in the woods, but decided to air on the side of caution.</p><p>“I am not your lord,” the figure said, tone no less difficult to decipher. “I am the messenger. Where do you think you are?”</p><p>“This is,” his voice was shaking, which was unacceptable. He clamped his jaw shut, took a slow breath, and tried again. “I believe this to be the Spirit World. The Fog of Lost Souls.”</p><p>“You are correct. Why has a human heard of this place?”</p><p>“I have done much reading on the Spirit World.” Perhaps too much reading, if he was honest. Three years was a long time to be searching for someone with no leads except the abstract knowledge that the spirit world <em> might </em>be involved. </p><p>“And so you know this is where mortals are sent to be punished for unspeakable crimes.”</p><p>His mouth was dry, but he managed a weak nod in lieu of words.</p><p>“The human admiral slaughtered the Moon Spirit, Tui, in an act of senseless violence. Of arrogance and ignorance. That, we cannot forgive.”</p><p>“Yes. I understand,” he said. “But I-”</p><p>“You tried to rescue this human from his fate, and in turn, he dragged you along to it. Do you deny this?”</p><p>“I - I do not.” He stared down at his hands, fingers curled into the moss.</p><p>“We do not take kindly to interference in our affairs.” There was a pause that felt entirely too long. “But we did not mean to send you here. We shall give you <em> one chance </em> to prove yourself worthy. A simple test. If you succeed in this task, you will be free to leave the fog. If you fail, we will leave you amongst the rest of the humans here. To suffer in penance.”</p><p>One chance. Zuko swallowed hard, and tried not to go back to being thirteen and afraid, and grasping at straws because <em> one chance </em>had been his life for a while now, and he’d failed again and again. He gripped the ground tighter.</p><p>“Do you accept these terms?”</p><p>“I - yes.” He nodded, tentatively glancing up from his hands. “I accept.”</p><p>In situations like these, there was nothing to do but accept. Accept and try to do the impossible.</p><p>“Very good. Your task is simple.”</p><p>There was a thud as something was tossed in front of him. He flinched at the sudden movement and leaned back so that he was sitting on his heels. The object was a rough-looking wooden bucket. It looked poorly made, but functional.</p><p>“If you travel in that direction,” the figure said, pointing. “A hundred paces, you will come to a cavern. In front of the cavern is a shallow pond that has dried out. At the heart of the cavern is another pool, full of clean water. Fill the bucket, and carry the water from the pool at the heart of the cavern to the pond outside it. Do this until the pond is full. Bring nothing but water.” </p><p>Zuko could only nod.</p><p>“Inside the bucket is an hourglass. You must complete the task before the hourglass runs out. You can summon me by turning the knob at the base of the hourglass three times. Do so when you have completed the task.”</p><p>The figure turned, and began to retreat. His mind spun. That seemed <em> oddly simple. </em>Straightforward, even. Not the sort of challenge he expected from powerful spirits. </p><p>“Wait!”</p><p>It stopped. Zuko froze. </p><p>“I - apologize. I only - I only wished to ask if there was anything else that was expected of me?”</p><p>“That is all,” the figure said. “The hourglass will turn once you reach the cavern.”</p><p>It did not say ‘good luck’ before it disappeared. Which was fine. Zuko was not used to good luck. </p><hr/><p>Aang had not been sleeping well since the North Pole, and it was beginning to show. Katara didn’t comment on it, but he had noticed her very not subtly beginning her nighttime routine at the center of their camp, sitting down to quietly meditate or hum, or do something generally relaxing which was painfully, clearly, for his benefit. Sokka did comment on it, but usually only in the mornings, sullenly, when Aang had been awake for several hours and he was just starting to get up. </p><p>Toph hadn’t known him before, so he’d kind of hoped that she might not know. But for someone who could not see what he was doing, Toph seemed to know <em> everything. </em> (Especially when <em> everything </em>included slacking off on his earthbending practice. Which he did often.)</p><p>Momo had taken to sleeping on his face. Aang was not sure how to interpret that.</p><p>The point was, he had not been sleeping well, and being tired somewhat confusingly gave him extra energy during the day, until it abruptly left and he went from bouncing off the nearby cliffs to wanting to lie on the ground and think about nothing in a span of minutes.</p><p>It was late, and dark, and he found himself staring at the fire, which had begun to flicker out, leaving him very cold, but he was too tired to bend the cool air away. On rare occasions, he saw potential uses for firebending. </p><p>
  <em> Aang. </em>
</p><p>He blinked, rubbing his eyes as he sat up, unsure as to whether he was dreaming or not.</p><p>“Avatar Roku?”</p><p>The older Avatar settled cross-legged on the ground on the opposing side of the dying fire.</p><p>
  <em> I need to speak with you. There’s something you should know. </em>
</p><p>He sat up quickly. The last thing Roku had thought he should know about had not been good.</p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>
  <em> It’s a Spirit World matter. One which for now is being dealt with internally, but may require your assistance in the future, if all goes well.   </em>
</p><p>“If all goes well?”</p><p>
  <em> You remember the North Pole, a human named Zhao sought to weaken the waterbenders by killing the Moon Spirit. </em>
</p><p>“I - I do. No one has seen him since.”</p><p>
  <em> That is the matter I need to discuss with you.  </em>
</p><hr/><p>In actuality, it took him 104 paces to reach the cavern. Spirits were generally taller than humans, Zuko decided. The fact that he was rather short for a human played no part in it. Mango had followed a few steps behind him, movements surprisingly light and quiet. </p><p>Zuko had already inspected the bucket for holes. Whatever the trick to this test was, for there was certainly a trick of some kind involved, it was apparently not that. The hourglass was smaller than most he’d seen before, and attached to a thin gold chain. After a moment’s deliberation, he put the chair over his head, and let it thump against his chest like an overly large pendant.</p><p>The cavern loomed in front of him. All he could see inside was darkness that he couldn’t stave off with firebending the way he usually would. He turned to Mango, who had hesitated with him at the entrance.</p><p>“I suppose this is it.”</p><p>The dragon gave a low growl of what Zuko assumed was agreement.</p><p>He tightened his grip on the bucket handle and stepped inside. As soon as he did, the sand in the hourglass began to fall.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A Limited Grasp of Proverbs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Zuko was not afraid of the dark. He was wary of the dark, of course, and walking through it made him uneasy without a light. But he was not afraid of it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(He had been, a long time ago, and his mother had used to leave a candle resting on his bedside table, the flame flickering gently like an old friend. He hadn’t dared ask his father or any of the servants once she left, and didn’t trust himself enough. Once, after a nightmare, he’d swallowed his pride and asked Azula. She’d set his bed on fire and laughed while he panicked. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How’s that for a night-light, Zuzu? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hadn’t asked again.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He traced his hand against the wall of the cavern as he walked the first few paces, just before the darkness closed around him completely, he felt a metal plate against the wood. Affixed to it was what seemed to be a lantern with spark-rocks. He carefully took both and returned to the outside, where Mango was waiting expectantly as if he hadn’t bothered to venture in when he knew how soon Zuko would be back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m going back in soon,” he said irritably and lit the lantern after struggling for a moment with the spark rocks and missing firebending terribly. The frame was made of metal and somewhat heavier than he’d expected, with the flame dancing underneath thin paper. Something about keeping that fire near him was comforting, despite the awkwardness of carrying both the lantern and the bucket. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he stepped back into the cavern, there was a small circle of light against the floor, which he followed. The stalagmites clustered around the edges of the cavern grew thicker, and as he got further past the entrance, their counterparts on the cavern floor appeared more frequently, creating the illusion of teeth closing tightly around him. He heard soft padding behind him, which he attributed to Mango.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s got to be a trick to this,” he told the dragon, mostly because the sheer silence of the cave was starting to unnerve him. “I’ve read about tests like this before, when I was trying to understand the spirit world. There’s a catch.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was always a catch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d heard this story before. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A traveler is given a simple task to complete. On their way to complete said task, they encounter spirits in disguise who try to dissuade them from the task. If they allow themselves to become distracted, they lose everything.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He’d read about the fog. How it brought forward your worst memories, trapped you in an endless cycle, reliving and reliving and reliving with no escape. (He did that often enough already.) He could not afford to become distracted. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But there were other stories, too. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A pair of travelers are walking in the woods, and encounter some helpless creature caught in a trap. They are running late, but one has a tender heart and stops to free it. The other continues forward. The one who stays behind is rewarded for their compassion by being transported to the home they are seeking. The one who ran ahead falls into a river and drowns.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There isn’t exactly a consistent framework,” he said. “The rules… they change.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>All he has to do is figure out which story he’s been placed in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you think, Mango?” He hadn’t heard a version that included a dragon before. He turned to face him, and found his lantern beam resting on the empty space between stalactites. Zuko swallowed, lifting the light upwards. He’d been talking to no one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But he had been fairly certain he was being followed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which he did not care for, at all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was also possible the area illuminated by the lantern was growing smaller. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned the light back in front of him, deciding that there was no purpose in being concerned about it now. There wasn’t much he could do at this point except keep walking forward. It was important never to falter, he decided. With enough forward momentum, nothing would be able to touch him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The light was definitely getting weaker, and he’d left the spark rocks outside the cavern, </span>
  <em>
    <span>like an idiot. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Cursing himself, Zuko took great pains not to throw the lantern against the nearest cavern wall. If the light went out, it went out, he decided. He wasn’t going to stop. Time was ticking away, and the shallow dip in the ground outside the cave had given him no indication as to how many trips this would take. He could continue in the dark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wasn’t scared of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He just missed the comfort of fire in his chest, warmth and light at his disposal, always flickering just below the surface. It had been a constant presence for as long as he could remember, even when he wasn’t bending, the fire had stayed with him. It was </span>
  <em>
    <span>part </span>
  </em>
  <span>of him, and the sudden lack made him feel strangely empty and cold. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The light was nearly dead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Greetings, traveler!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The greeting was so abrupt, Zuko nearly tripped in surprise, clanging the lantern against the wall, He turned, squinting, and raised the lantern. In front of him stood a figure who resembled a man, but was almost certainly a spirit of some kind, clad in an ornate blue cloak.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello,” Zuko said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I apologize for my forwardness,” the man said. “But I hoped I might beg your assistance?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - um,” Zuko glanced ahead at the darkened cavern, the soft hissing of the sand in the hourglass ever-present in the background. “What kind of assistance?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You seem like a strong young man. And I am very old,” the man said, though he did not look especially old to Zuko. “I have been traveling in this cavern for quite some time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where are you going?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“To the other side, of course.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of the cavern?” His grip tightened around the bucket handle. “I thought this path lead to a pond.” If there was more than one path, that was a problem. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, well,” the man said. “The same path can lead in many different directions. It all depends on where you’re looking to go.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That sounded like one of Uncle’s proverbs, in the way that it made no sense at all.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think that sounds right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man looked unimpressed but decided to ignore it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nevertheless, I have been traveling carrying a heavy burden,” he gestured to a large burlap sack resting on the ground. “And I wondered if you might carry it for me, just for a short stretch.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was almost certainly a test. Zuko stared at the sack, frowning. But which kind of test? There were stories where those who failed to follow instructions were left in mountain crevices or on small islands in the middle of the ocean with no means of escape. He had been assigned a task that did not involve carrying a sack for some stranger. But there were other stories, too. Ones he’d read in darkened catacombs with his own fire as the only light; they were stories where those who ignored the pleas of others were punished without mercy. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s no consistency!” He said at a perfectly normal volume which echoed around the cavern.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I’m sorry?” the man, spirit, said, clearly startled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This is a test of some kind. Or a trick. Or a trap,” he folded his arms across his chest. “What am I supposed to be doing here? Helping you? Staying focused? There are a lot of options and </span>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t know the rules!</span>
  </em>
  <span> What is even in there?” he pointed at the sack. “Is it the path to the exit, or precious jewels, or </span>
  <em>
    <span>the bodies of past travelers</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>building materials</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” The man said indignantly. “And if you don’t mind my saying so, it seems like you’ve got a few personal issues to work through, young man. I’m not sure I want your help after all.” And with that, he plucked up his sack and disappeared into the darkness. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A cold panic settled over him. Regardless of the nature of the test, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>had not been the right response. “Wait, I’m sorry!” He nearly tripped scrambling in the direction the man had gone, but the space was empty. “I’ll carry your stuff, just - wait!”</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“This… is not going well,” Roku said, in what was likely the understatement of the millennia. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He didn’t even get to the </span>
  <em>
    <span>hard </span>
  </em>
  <span>part of the test,” muttered one spirit, who had almost certainly been in favor of the wolves plan a few hours prior. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the reflecting pool, the boy, having given up hope of catching the vanished spirit, threw the lantern against the wall where it promptly went out. His resulting yell of frustration was it took to place him in the dark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He </span>
  <em>
    <span>yelled</span>
  </em>
  <span> at the spirit guardian.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He knows he’s being tested, which always complicates things.” One spirit commented. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>told him </span>
  </em>
  <span>it was a test to determine whether or not he could leave. What did you </span>
  <em>
    <span>think </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was going to think it was?” asked another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, regardless, we’ve got our answer here,” a third sniffed. “He’s volatile and disrespectful, just like the other one. We may as well call the whole thing off. Send in the wolves.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roku surprised himself by speaking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is to say, every task is … is a journey of sorts. Clearly, he hasn’t been doing especially well up to this point, but a wrong turn does not mean there’s no chance for course-correction.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(He’d told Gyatsu something similar, once, about Sozin. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It doesn’t, </span>
  </em>
  <span>the monk had agreed, </span>
  <em>
    <span>but it becomes harder the longer it takes for a person to admit they’re lost. And impossible if they never do. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He had offered a plate full of pie with this wisdom, which Roku hadn’t mustered up the stomach to eat.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s only just begun,” someone said begrudgingly. “I suppose if he does exceptionally well on them all, we might forgive this particular… incident.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roku looked to Yue, who had not spoken. Her gaze was fixed on the reflecting pool. In it, there was little to see, just the movement of shadows in the dark. And then suddenly, a small beam of light. In it, Zuko set down a stone, which had been hit against the nearest wall to achieve sparks, and hugged the lantern close to his chest, resting his forehead on the cool metal, his breathing measured and careful.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Once the light returned, it took a few moments for the blue-clad figure to return with it, farther ahead of Zuko than he would have liked. He gathered up the bucket and lantern and hurried towards him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me?” he said. “I’m sorry, excuse me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have no reason to speak with you,” the man sniffed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know.” Zuko skidded to a stop, bowing humbly, and staying low. “I apologize for… shouting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And accusing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And accusing,” he added. “I am… new and confused. I meant to disrespect. I beg your forgiveness, and ask if you may do me the honor of allowing me to assist you in your quest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean,” the man said slowly. “It’s hardly a quest. But you’re welcome to carry my bag full of rocks if it means that much to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bag full of -” Zuko caught himself before he began shouting again. “I mean, it does. Thank you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man shrugged simply and offered him the sack, which he dutifully pulled over his shoulder, grimacing at the weight. He had been relatively certain up to this point that the cavern floor had been at a decline, but it was almost certainly going upwards now, with the stones thumping against his back with every move he made, irregular shapes burrowing into his shoulders. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hope it is not impertinent to say,” the man said. “But you don’t look as if you come from here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko grunted and nodded in response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We don’t get many travelers here,” he continued. Zuko was surprised they got any.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There have been other travelers?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Through this cavern? Oh, a great many.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do they come for?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Same as you, I imagine,” the man said. “They’re looking for something.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not looking for anything,” </span>
  <em>
    <span>at the moment, </span>
  </em>
  <span>“I’m just trying to get home.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Looking for a way back, then?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I guess so.” Zuko shifted the bag higher on his shoulder to get a corner away from his side and was rewarded for his efforts with the same corner ramming into the small of his back. It was not doing wonders for his temperament. He promised himself he was not going to shout at the spirit. No more yelling in the Spirit World. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How did you end up here, then?” The man was holding the lantern now, and walking a few paces ahead of Zuko so that all he could see of him was the silhouette of his back.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>mean </span>
  </em>
  <span>to,” he said, gritting his teeth. “It just sort of happened.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And now you’re stuck.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Clearly.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds like an interesting story.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It isn’t.” The seams in the bag were stretching around where his fingers gripped it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They continued in silence for a few paces. Zuko would have been perfectly content to continue in that manner, forever, but it seemed that his new traveling companion was a talker. He missed Mango, he decided. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know,” the man continued. “That’s quite a unique necklace you’ve got.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked down at the hourglass and swallowed. It was moving a great deal faster then he would have liked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What happens when it runs out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man he’d encountered in the woods flickered in his mind. He tried not to imagine it, imagine him, grasping at stranger’s cloaks, begging for a single chance. </span>
  <em>
    <span>You don’t understand. I just need more time. I can find it. Burn them to the ground.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I can restore my honor. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The last of these came unbidden and refused to settle in his stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not going to,” was the only response he could give.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sands are moving quickly.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unfortunately, he was right. And it was highly possible the sack over his shoulders was getting heavier.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I might be able to help you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can make it fall slower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t think that’s allowed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man smiled. “Did the messenger say, specifically?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko did not trust this.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Lu Ten had told him a story, one, when he was little, about a man who thought he could trick the Spirits. A rich, lazy man, who wandered onto his kindly neighbor’s estate and stole and ate one of his swan-geese. The next morning, he’d woken up with feathers bursting through his skin. The spirit had told him that to be free of them, he would have to tell the neighbor of the crime and accept the consequences. The man had agreed, but on the way, ran into a clever fox, who’d pointed out a loophole in the spirit’s argument. The man told the neighbor of the crime, but not that he was the perpetrator. In turn, the spirit had allowed the transformation to be complete, and the kindly neighbor, unknowing, had taken the newfound plump swan-goose and roasted it for dinner, offering an invitation to the rich man, that was left unopened.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko had not wanted to eat swan-geese after that. Especially with Azula hovering over his shoulder whenever he did, snapping her fingers like the meat was human bones breaking between his teeth, and begging for mercy in falsetto.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Crunch, crunch, Zuzu</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” she laughed.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not right.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you want to get home?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, obviously!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you’ve only got so much time. How many trips do you think it’ll take back and forth to empty a pond?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’ll go faster once I know the way.” He was not completely sure that this was true but needed to believe it was. “Or I’ll find another bucket, or...  or something! I’ve still got time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You could have more.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No!” Zuko slammed the bag full of rocks, which looked distinctly larger now than it had when he’d first lifted it. “I can’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why not?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because it’s a trick. And you can’t trick the spirits. I don’t want to be turned into a swan-goose!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” The man was looking at him strangely now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s … a proverb.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Very well,” he said, nodding in acceptance. “I understand. You do not wish to be dishonest.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, um, exactly.” Apparently, it was possible to say strange things and then retroactively mask them as proverbs. Zuko was going to have to have a talk with Uncle when he saw him next.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>If</span>
  </em>
  <span> he saw him next.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Perhaps you may take a bit of my advice, instead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“When you reach the end of this tunnel, you will encounter a fork in the path. Take the right one, and it will lead you to a canyon, across which there is no bridge. However, if you ask the crocodile-rays to make a path, head to toe, across the pathway, they will, if you ask them the right question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The right question?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man leaned towards him, his voice a whisper which was indistinguishable from a normal talking volume in the silent cavern. “How many of you are there?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.” He assumed the crocodile-rays were another proverb he would have to sort out later. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now that he discovered the secret behind proverbs, he was unfazed by this. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you must promise me something.” The man turned to him. “You must not allow anyone else to come with you on the path. If you do, the consequences could be dire. You must not share this knowledge with anyone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Swear it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I promise.” He curled one hand into a fist and let the other rest flat against it, bowing. “Thank you for your guidance.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you for carrying my rocks. I hope you find what you are looking for.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And with that, both man and sack disappeared before he got the chance to respond. The pain in his back and shoulders, unfortunately, did not. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“So let me get this straight,” Sokka said, sitting across the cooling campfire. “Avatar Roku appeared to you in a dream because the evil guy who has been chasing us across the world is actually not dead, and stuck in the Spirit World.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And this is our problem because….”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sokka!” Katara hit him across the shoulder and turned back to Aang. “That’s good, right? I know that was weighing on you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang nodded. It had been, more than it perhaps should have. On some level, it had been nice not being chased for a while. But he couldn’t help but think of standing outside of the Fire Nation Stronghold. Of how quickly they’d fallen in sync with each other. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Do you think we could have been friends? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t want to think about people dying because of him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not saying I </span>
  <em>
    <span>wanted </span>
  </em>
  <span>him to die! It’s just that things would be a lot easier for us if he was, you know, not… alive.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s the </span>
  <em>
    <span>same thing.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s very different!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang turned to Toph.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you think?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged. “I never met the guy. But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>have</span>
  </em>
  <span> fought his sister, and I don’t really want two of them running around trying to capture us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Maybe he’d be so grateful that we saved him he’d stop chasing us!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Sokka said. “Like he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>so grateful </span>
  </em>
  <span>after you saved him from the Yuyan Archers. Or when we stopped him from freezing to death in the North Pole. He definitely gave up chasing us, then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He does have a point.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Based on everything we know, does it seem in character for him to just give up?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Aang admitted. “But I don’t know if I can just leave him there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well, it may not even be your problem, right?” Toph pointed out. “They’ve got that whole test he has to pass.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I guess so.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you can always just wait and decide then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s true.” He nodded, brightening “I can wait.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Katara did not look like she especially cared for this plan.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just wait and decide later, that’s your advice? Do nothing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not </span>
  <em>
    <span>nothing,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Toph said, standing up. “Twinkletoes still has a lot of Earthbending practice to do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Aang slumped down again and looked to Katara for help. He received none.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The crocodile-rays were not a proverb. Nor were they normal crocodile-rays. The scales clustered intermittently on either side of their smooth skin glowed green in the darkness as they swam through the air as smoothly as if they were swimming in a pond. He was transfixed for a moment, watching the swooping, fluttering movements of their limbs, dim yellow-green eyes raised from their backs and facing ever forward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, there’s another one,” said a bored sounding female voice. Zuko blinked and turned to look. At the edge of the abyss, which stretched downwards into inky blackness, stood a cluster of people, all sporting various tools. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Be kind, Kaida,” said an older voice. “Are you searching for the heart of the cavern as well?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you doing here?” the girl, Kaida asked. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Breaking a seal, theft, lying, </span>
  <em>
    <span>dishonoring </span>
  </em>
  <span>a sacred place?” she folded her arms over her chest. “If you’ve been sent here, you must have done </span>
  <em>
    <span>something </span>
  </em>
  <span>to piss the spirits off.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t have to answer that,” said the older man, putting a hand on the girl’s arm. “She’s full of anger.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have every right to be angry!” she snapped. She walked over to him in an accusing way that kind of reminded him of the Avatar’s waterbender friend. “What did you do? Something exciting, I hope.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t do anything.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She rolled her eyes. “You obviously did something.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I was brought here by mistake.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“By mistake?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I was trying to help this…” he could think of several descriptors for Zhao at the moment, none of which should be said in polite company. “Um, guy. I know. Who really upset the spirits and I tried to pull him out only he pulled me in instead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What did he do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your friend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>my friend. He killed the Moon Spirit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her jaw dropped open. “Did you just say-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” Zuko didn’t really want to talk to these people. “I’m sorry, I have to go it’s just I’m on a bit of a -”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Schedule?” the girl finished. “Join the club.” She stuck out her fist, shoving something into his face, and he flinched away before he could stop himself. She was holding an hourglass that looked eerily similar to his, only the sand had nearly run completely through. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Understand?” He did not much care for being continuously cut off. “It’s pretty simple. We all have a reason to cross the cavern. There’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>no way across.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s wrong,” he said. “It has to be wrong.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>wrong. But it’s what’s happening. You’ve been given a fool’s errand, Moonslayer. There’s no way out. The Spirits are messing with you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t- I’m not the Moonslayer.” Zuko looked between Kaida and the others. They were not objecting nearly as much as he would like them to be objecting. “And it’s not a fool’s errand. There is -” he caught himself. “There has to be a way across the canyon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And none of us have found it. In years. But you will because you’re so much-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have time for this.” It felt nice to be the one cutting off for once. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what we all said.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ignored her, walking the edge of the overlook carefully, staring downwards. He could see nothing. His eyes traced back up to the crocodile-rays, swimming obliviously through the air.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s what we all did,” he heard behind him. He ignored this as well, instead crooning towards the crocodile-rays, clicking his tongue the way he always did with the messenger hawks back on his ship. One swam over, brushing up near him, and he gently ran a hand over it’s back. It was smooth, save for the leathery patches which seemed to hum with their own kind of spiritual energy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello,” he said, softly, to the crocodile-ray. “My name is Zuko. I was wondering if you might help me with something.” It bumped its head gently against his hand. “Yes, um, it’s nice to meet you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko glanced back at the group of people, who were all staring at him oddly. How to proceed from this point was slightly unclear, and he wished he’d thought to ask the man with blue robes more questions.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Feeling a bit ridiculous, he asked. “How many of you are there?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The crocodile-ray stared at him for a moment, and then flew away, so disinterested Zuko was not entirely certain what it meant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You think none of us have thought of that?” Kaida said. “They’re too small to ride. Even for someone your size.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was not entirely sure what she meant by that and bristled slightly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m normal size.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Perhaps he was slightly shorter than average. Azula had been taller than him when he’d seen her last and had teased him mercilessly. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Girls grow sooner than boys do</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Uncle had said, laughing. </span>
  <em>
    <span>You’ll catch up eventually. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Sometimes, instead of meditating, he would sit, and think about how he must have caught up with her by now. And when he found the Avatar, he would return and be taller than her and rest his elbow on her forehead the way Lu Ten used to do. When he imagined it, she never broke his arm or threw him to the floor the way she probably would in real life. She only made that sullen, not-actually angry expression he used to make. He’d told Uncle this once, and he’d only looked very, very sad. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hadn’t brought it up again.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure,” Kaida said, like she was humoring him. Which she couldn’t have been since he was very much right. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was about to respond when the crocodile-ray returned, accompanied by several others, which began to swim around him quickly. He flapped slightly trying to figure out where to put his arms to best avoid the lightning tips of their tails.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” he said to them, looking from side to side, trying to see them all at once. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Zuko. I, um, I was wondering if you might-” He was cut off as they swam in front of him, suddenly in a short line, spanning from the edge of the canyon inwards. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he said, bowing his head. He took a tentative step towards the edge, before very gently resting his foot on the back of the first one. It was not a steady balance point, and he had to be careful to avoid the creature’s eyes. On some level, it occurred to him that this was probably not the most secure pathway, but he was on a schedule, and could not think of anything else to do. He couldn’t just keep waiting. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He closed his eyes and lifted his other foot from the cavern’s edge. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a sharp intake of breath behind him. His arms wobbled the handle of the lantern balancing on one wrist, and the bucket balancing on the other. He took another step, his heart tightening in his chest. He did not really care for heights. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took another step.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first crocodile-ray broke from the edge of the canyon, blocking the way back, and coming to rest in front of him, the pathway moving forward as he did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then his foot slipped. He yelped, arms flailing in pinwheels as he dropped both his bucket and his lantern. He managed to catch the edge of the bucket handle, but the lantern continued falling, bouncing off the walls of the canyon as it did so. The sound echoed around him, followed by a soft thump. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took another cautious step, and then another, and then stepped onto the other side of the canyon, his entire body sagging with relief. He half collapsed onto the stone, bowing to the cluster of crocodile-rays.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” he said. “For your assistance.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was always best to treat the spirits well. He looked back up. On the other side of the canyon, the group of people stood there clustered. Kaida stood at the edge, staring at him. Her mouth moved, but he couldn’t quite make out the words. It was either a question or an expletive. Or a question involving expletives. He looked down at the hourglass around his neck. Time had passed. Too much time had passed. And he had made a promise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll come back!” he said before leaving, only realizing once he’d passed through the arch that they had no way of hearing him.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“He’s very determined.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was the first time Yue had spoken in a while, and Roku forced himself to pry his eyes away from the reflecting pool. In it, Zuko had ducked through the cavern on the opposite side of the canyon, now sans lantern. It was making him difficult to watch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This entire thing was difficult to watch.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He isn’t spiteful,” he found himself saying. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There are a lot of other ways to hurt people,” she pointed out. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But you want to help him.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s my great-grandson.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She nodded, and he realized she already knew that, though for some reason, he felt compelled to continue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He takes after his other great grandfather in many ways,” he said, though hearing the words aloud made the assessment feel slightly unfair. Zuko was not Sozin. And, in truth, a great number of his failings were as much Roku’s as anyone’s. “We were friends. Since childhood, we were close. More than friends, really.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like brothers?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His smile was tired. “Something like that. And I told myself, for years, that he couldn’t be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>bad </span>
  </em>
  <span>person. That he was simply being misled, and that once he realized it, he’d sort himself out again. Admit that I was right. I had this sort of blind faith in him, I suppose.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which had been pure naivety on his part, even at his best, Sozin had never been on to admit he was wrong. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(He recalled sitting together, dangling their legs off of the upper balcony on the palace, laughing into cupped hands as his best friend grit his teeth, swearing up and down that he had </span>
  <em>
    <span>meant </span>
  </em>
  <span>to order the extra-spicy fire flakes, and they weren’t even that spicy, really, as tears formed in his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just admit it was a mistake,” he had said, holding the glass of milk just out of reach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t. Know what. You’re talking about. They’re fantastic. Exactly what I wanted.”)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned back to Yue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But by the time I realized I was wrong, it was too late.” For Sozin. For Roku. For the world. “And everyone suffered for it. And he,” he gestured to the dark shadow in the reflecting pool. “Reminds me of it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of Sozin? Or of you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He did not have an answer for that. He feared the former. If he was being completely honest with himself, he feared the latter, as well. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The tunnel following the canyon was completely darkened, and Zuko kept running into stalactites thick enough to resemble pillars. The way his grunts of surprise and annoyance echoed signaled that this tunnel was much larger than the one he had come out of previously and, now that he was not lugging a bag full of rocks, had finally decided to begin trending downwards.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was also pitch black, and he was without a lantern. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be entirely without firebending.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(At one point, when his banishment had just begun, he’d entertained the notion of giving it up altogether. Of swearing off bending until his honor had been restored since if he’d fallen from Father’s good graces, he certainly must have fallen from Agni’s as well, and it would be </span>
  <em>
    <span>disrespectful </span>
  </em>
  <span>to infringe further, and perhaps that was why his heart quickened and stomach rolled whenever he saw an exposed candle or open flame and it had nothing to do with his injury like Uncle said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had given up the plan after a while, without ever voicing it to anyone. Because Avatar hunting involved crawling down ancient tunnels and studying dusty scrolls in the back corners of libraries, and you </span>
  <em>
    <span>needed</span>
  </em>
  <span> fire there if you hoped to see anything, and he couldn’t make Uncle, with his soft voice and infuriating patience and safe, not-near-his-face fire, sit with him every time.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was not ideal.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard the skittering of something moving behind him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko turned around, squinting in the darkness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kaida?” Nothing. She had no way of following him. None of those people did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>And who is responsible for that? </span>
  </em>
  <span>The voice in his head sometimes sounded like Uncle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Sometimes it sounded different. Maternal. He didn’t remember exactly what his mother had sounded like.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It’s not my fault. I don’t have time.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I see. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Uncle would say that sometimes, in a tone indicating that he most certainly did </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>see. Or, if he did see, he did not </span>
  <em>
    <span>understand.</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Don’t do that. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He folded his arms across his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Do what?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Use that voice. Like I’m being unreasonable. I have a job to do. And it’s important. Don’t you </span>
  </em>
  <span>want </span>
  <em>
    <span>me home?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Of course I do. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He could imagine uncle saying it. He could hear his cadence in the words. It wasn’t nearly as stilted and awkward as when -</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Then why are you here?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m a figment of your imagination, Prince Zuko. Why do you think I’m here?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The skittering returned. </span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mango?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The darkness responded with a vaguely condescending silence. The dragon hadn’t been at his heels since he’d entered the cavern. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, okay,” he said in response. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned back, looking. The only light was the faint shadow of light from the canyon. He unfolded his arms and sighed into the darkness before stalking back in that direction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he reentered the opening to the cavern, the people were still perched on the opposite end. The slot between the stones was deep and jagged. He offered a single wave. One of the crocodile-rays swam over, hovering just above his eye level.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello again,” he said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He glanced over the edge of the canyon, into the darkness. The darkness, which was somewhat lighter than he’d remembered in one area. A kind of off-black, rather than the pure kind that made his head hurt to think about. Which didn’t make sense. He’d dropped his lantern, but he shouldn’t be able to see it from here, unless… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He crouched at the edge of the stone, squinting into the darkness. The stone was darker on the inside of the divide, more so than could be accounted for by the shadows the way he’d initially assumed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(His depth perception left a fair amount to be desired, due to only being able to fully see out of one eye. He’d trained with dual swords for months to restore his balance and awareness of the environment on all sides. He didn’t notice it much anymore, except when he was supposed to gauge how deep something was, or how far he would need to jump. Then he had an unfortunate tendency to misjudge both.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked back up at the crowd at the other side and gestured downward. He was met with several confused looks. In lieu of a better way to illustrate, and not trusting his pantomiming abilities, Zuko stood up and jumped off the cliff. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>This was the first thing to get a noticeable reaction out of Yue, who stood up abruptly, eyes wide.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” She turned to Roku. “Did he just </span>
  <em>
    <span>jump</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It seems so.” Roku was pleased that Zuko had returned to the cavern, unconventional and poorly thought out plans aside. It was also somewhat nice not to be the one panicking for the first time, a thought which he felt guilty for immediately upon seeing her face. She had been human far more recently than he had. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He won’t die there,” he said gently, though, he did not imagine the landing would be especially pleasant. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That seemed to relax her a bit, and she sat down again. “Was he supposed to do that?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not… technically.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He was supposed to check how deep it was.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But instead he just </span>
  <em>
    <span>jumped.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Roku paused, feeling slightly compelled to say something in the boy’s defense. “He figured out that the canyon wasn’t that deep a lot faster than we’d planned on.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which was a good sign, all things considered. In the reflecting pool, Zuko hit the ground, absorbing the impact in his stance like an experienced fighter, before falling forwards onto the stone floor, out of balance.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which seemed to Roku like a metaphor of sorts. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>In retrospect, there were probably better ways Zuko could have verified his hypothesis. Ways which, for starters, did not involve jumping off a cliff. He’d managed to break his fall, for the most part, though he would not be surprised if he’d broken something else in the process. He rolled over onto his back, staring upwards at the green-glowing underbellies of the crocodile-rays as they swam back and forth above him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The hourglass around his neck had left a bruise when he’d fallen on it, and he shifted, nervously holding it up in front of the flickering light of his lantern. The glass remained completely intact. Significantly more intact than he was, at least. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Shakily rising to his feet, Zuko walked over to the side of the wall and tapped it gently. The noise it made was soft and insufficient for his purposes. Shaking his head, he picked up the lantern, and hit it against the wall, hard enough to make the light shake. If he kept this up, he was going to lose it. He grit his teeth, looking up at the crocodile-rays, and hit it again. And then several more times, harder, to get his point across. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the top of the canyon, he saw Kaida peek her head over and look down. She was far enough away that her features were almost completely obscured, but he was relatively sure she could see him. He waved his arms over his head, in case she hadn’t, which earned him what was likely a sarcastic nod. Then her head retreated. It was replaced by a thud, as another lantern came hurtling over the side. Zuko jumped, dodging it, and for a split second, worried that he was under some sort of attack before Kaida joined him, jumping off the edge as well. She yelped as she fell, and groaned when she hit the ground, about as gracefully as he had.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It would have been chivalrous to catch me,” she said, glaring as she stood up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re welcome.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a brief second, another lantern came hurtling over the edge, followed by a bucket, and then another person. Within a few moments, the entire group, with varying levels of grace, was assembled at the bottom of the canyon. All of them were staring at Zuko. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The rock here is dark,” Zuko said when no one spoke for a few moments. “It looks deeper than it is. I realized it when my lantern didn’t echo for that long when I dropped it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The first way you did it involved less cliff-jumping,” one man pointed out, somewhat sullenly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Where do we go from here?” asked another.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We can, um, climb back up the other side.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was met with a somewhat mixed response. Zuko held up his lantern to the wall opposing him. The rock was uneven enough for there to be handholds, though perhaps not so uneven as to make for easy climbing. He could do it, he decided. He wasn’t sure about the rest of the group. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You want us to climb </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was apparently an unpopular suggestion.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s the only way out,” he said. “Unless someone has a better idea?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Whenever he had heard that phrase used historically, it was typically sarcastic, or meant as a challenge. In this case, he meant it literally, and was, in fact, somewhat hoping someone had a better idea.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No one responded, which he took as a no.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” he said. “Who has the least time left?” It was the only order it made sense to go in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few people checked their hourglasses, before a man raised his hand, tentatively.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do,” he said. “But it’s already too late. People with more time have more of a chance of getting out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re all getting out,” Zuko said firmly because if they started discussing semantics, they’d all be here forever. And he did not have time for that. “You go first. Everyone get in line.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a few moments, they did so, gathering up lanterns and tools. Zuko knelt by the edge of the wall and nodded for the first man to go ahead, threading his fingers together in a foothold.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Ty Lee had shown them how to do that back when they were kids, trying to climb up to the highest branches of the tree in the gardens. He remembered she’d climbed all the way to the top before gripping a weaker branch and falling to the ground with first a crack of wood splintering, and then a thud. Azula, who hadn’t appreciated not being the first in line, had laughed while Ty Lee cried, clutching her wrist to her chest. Mai had gone to fetch the palace medic, and Zuko had jumped down, not having wanted to go especially high anyways, and sat next to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hadn’t known what to say, other than, “If you’re quiet, the turtle-ducks might come to you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ty Lee had sniffled for a moment, before swallowing the pain and nodding silently. A few feathered heads had popped up at the edge of the pond, and by the time Mai had returned with the medic, one was seated in Ty Lee’s lap as she ran tentative fingers on its small head.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>None of the other people were especially good climbers, and Zuko had to swallow his annoyance as they struggled up.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really didn’t do anything, did you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He startled, and turned to face Kaida, who was leaning against the side of the cavern, eyeing him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was a mistake,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yours or theirs?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mine,” was the correct answer. He knew enough about spirits to know that they did not appreciate being blamed for things. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I shouldn’t have -” </span>
  <em>
    <span>tried to help </span>
  </em>
  <span>“gotten involved.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sounds like you were trying to do the right thing.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, well,” his eyes traced the inside of the canyon upwards. “That never works out well, does it?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took longer than he would have liked for the rest of the group to reach the top, and he found himself fidgeting annoyedly with the chain around his hourglass, wondering how it could look so fragile, and yet withstand being hit against things repeatedly without so much as cracking. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The moonlight reflected off the water looked almost ghost-like as it rippled in time with the winds. Lieutenant Jee tugged the borrowed scarf tighter around his neck, eyeing the general, standing vigil on the bow of the ship. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Prince Zuko had been missing for a little under a month. No one had seen him since he and Zhao began fighting on the bridge in the North Pole, and no one had found a body. The entire crew was pointedly ignoring the fact that all the Dragon of the West had needed to do to weasel their entire company from rotting in Water Tribe prisons was make a couple of suspect moves on a Pai Sho board, and have a quiet, restrained conversation with the local Waterbending master. They ignored it because whatever it meant was clearly something far more complex than any of them were prepared to deal with at the moment. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Though, to be honest, a lot of things made more sense now.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A few weeks ago, he had commented to their helmsman how difficult it was to imagine the prince, with his short temper and endless pacing, and fundamental inability to accept even the smallest of setbacks in his pursuit, as closely related to his uncle as he was. He had no such problems now, and he rather missed the inability to draw a parallel.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>When he’d reached the top, all of the other people had disappeared into the darkness, which was disconcerting, to say the least. He returned to walking through the cave, grateful this time for the light with him, and regretting the jump from the cliffside immensely. He was now two distinctly different kinds of sore, which accented each other nicely. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ground dipped further downward for a brief stretch before evening out, the smattering of stalagmites growing thinner until the space opened up into a sort of strange antechamber. Zuko felt a kind of cold dread settling in the space between his shoulders as he walked forwards, pressing his palms against the back wall of the room, and coming up against solid stone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If he’d come this far to reach a dead-end he was going to… do something. Something that would probably involve screaming and throwing because otherwise, it would involve sinking against the stone wall and sobbing while the vast empty cavern that might not even lead to a pond of any sort echoed his own hopelessness back to him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe he shouldn’t have trusted the man with the stones. Or left the people on the other side of the canyon. Or yelled less, or remembered the stupid spark rocks, or just done something different </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhere </span>
  </em>
  <span>along the line because he was running out of time and options and-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Click.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His hand, scrambling at the stone, pressed a rock into place, and suddenly light flooded the antechamber. It was small and circular, and he could not place where the light was coming from since nothing made a shadow, which was disorienting. Affixed to the wall to the side was a kind of metal tube that opened at one end into a sort of cone, with the other end buried into the rock wall. With nothing else to do, he picked it up gingerly and squinted into it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hello.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He startled, squinting into the cone. “Um, hello.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice sounded young, almost singsong.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to play a game?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He frowned. “I - I would. Only, I don’t have much-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s not a long game. And I can help you if you play.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Help me how?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can open the door,” said the voice. “But only if you win.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I win?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yep!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What game are we playing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s a game of riddles.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko was not good at riddles. But he was worse at opening hidden doors of solid stone without weapons or bending. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The game is I ask you a question, and then you ask me one. Whoever can’t answer the other’s first loses. And if you win, I help you get out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if you win?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The voice laughed in a way that made it sound vaguely familiar.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Crunch, crunch, Zuzu.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to swallow but found his mouth dry. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll play.” There was little else to do at that point.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wonderful! The first riddle is this: The strongest soldier in the nation cannot hold me but for a few minutes. You must take me every day, and release me every hour. I am ever-present, but you can never see me. What am I?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He paused, running fingers through his hair and then curling them inward into fists until he felt the pull at his scalp. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ve only twenty-seconds to answer.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What? When did that become a rule?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nineteen, eighteen…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He moved the cone away from his ear, trying to concentrate. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Capture every day, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he muttered it to himself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Release every hour. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He thought of the Avatar. It certainly felt like that often. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The strongest soldier in the nation cannot hold me. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Which was probably true, but the rest of the riddle didn’t fit. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Never see me, </span>
  </em>
  <span>but it was difficult to </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>see them, flying around on their massive bison or the glider, with airbending and - </span>
  <em>
    <span>airbending.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eight, seven-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ve got it,” he said. The voice paused. “It’s - it’s breathing, isn’t it? A breath of air. Because you can’t hold your breath for more than a few minutes?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a beat of silence before the voice reproachfully muttered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Correct.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So now I get a riddle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He really didn’t know any good riddles. The last time he’d even attempted something similar was with Azula and her friends many years ago.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, um, a man comes up to a village on an Ostrich-horse on Friday. He stays for three-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Ostrich-horse’s name is Friday.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“... Yeah.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My turn,” the voice said, chipper again. “What is the square root of 42?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I- wait?” Zuko frowned. “Um, can you repeat the riddle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is the square root of 42?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not a riddle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said I would ask you a question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Um,” Zuko said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thirteen, twelve-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Square root of 42. 42 isn’t a square number. 42 is an unlucky number. More than seven but less than six. After that… numbers. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nine, eight-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Did the spirit expect a decimal? The question was a trick. He could be tricky back. He just needed something equal to-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Five, four-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The - um, the fourth root of,” he was drawing in the air again, the way he did when he was alone in his room trying to work out the ship’s budget. “1,764?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A beat, then. “Correct.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Somewhere, a river spirit was looking extremely pleased with himself whilst the assembled company looked at him, distinctly unimpressed.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko exhaled, slowly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you have a riddle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right.” he paced around the small room. “So, a man tells his terrier-squirrel to come from the opposite side of a river. And it crosses without getting wet. There isn’t a boat or a bridge-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The river was frozen.” A pause. “My turn. Imagine you are on an island populated by three spirits. One of them always lies. One of them always tells the truth. The third sometimes lies and sometimes tells the truth. This is the random spirit. You may ask the spirits three questions to determine which is which, but each question can only be asked to one spirit at a time.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay.’</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only,” the voice continued. “The spirits speak a language unknown to you. They can only answer ‘ja’ or ‘da’ to you as yes or no. You do not know which means yes, and which means no. The only way off the island is to correctly guess the identity of the spirits in three questions. What do you ask?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had no ideas. He did not even have the beginnings of ideas coalescing in tiny fragments. How was he supposed to figure out what meant what if he couldn’t even tell who was lying to him?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Twelve, eleven.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>But you’ve never really been able to tell that, have you? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Shut up, Azula. </span>
  </em>
  <span>He did not need this right now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Poor little Zuko, so lost and confused. I would have figured it out ages ago. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I said, shut up.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You’re the one imagining me, dum-dum.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Five, four, three-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait!” The counting stopped. “I’m on this island,  I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>imagining </span>
  </em>
  <span>this island.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What are your questions?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t have any.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>For this riddle, at least.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No questions?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I stop imagining. I can just stop? No questions.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was a lengthy pause.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your next riddle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took a deep breath, the tension in his shoulders relaxing slightly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay,” he closed his eyes. He was using riddles he knew the answers to. Simple riddles, like from a child’s game. But how would he know what the right answer was unless he knew already? Unless he didn’t need to be able to verify. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My riddle is,” he began. “How do I get out of here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Repeat that.” The voice had lost its sing-song quality, and though he hadn’t cared for it initially, he certainly missed it now. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do I get out of here? Say you’re me. You’ve been pulled into the Spirit World. You have been asked to transfer the water from a pond at the heart of a cavern to a pond just outside the cavern. You’ve gone through a lot of it, and you come to an antechamber with a voice who asks you to play a game of riddles.” He straightened. “How do you get out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That isn’t a riddle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Neither was the math question. How do you get out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There is no way out.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The room was silent, except for the sound of his breathing, heavy and panicked. He had been afraid of that, but there was only one move left.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wrong answer.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A sound echoed through the metal that might have been laughing or crying, and Zuko was not sure which he preferred. Then there was a creak, and one of the walls of the antechamber dropped to the floor, leaving an exposed arch, from which extended a set of stairs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beyond it was a room awash with blue light, the ground covered with tall, thick grasses that seemed impossible against the stone floor. The light was emanating from a pool of water in the center of the room, in which a single golden koi fish swam back and forth in lazy circles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko picked up the bucket and set off down the stairs.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“He’s reached the heart,” Yue said, though she knew it was obvious. Next to her, Roku had stilled, his expression somewhat pained. “Is that not what you wanted?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is.” He looked no less unhappy. “I don’t know if he’s ready.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yue ran her fingers through her hair, looking at the pond with the thoughtful yet lonely expression of something as old as the cosmos.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are any of us, when the real test begins?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Notes:<br/>The question Zuko asks to get across the canyon is an allusion to the Japanse folktale, The White Hare and the Crocodiles, which can be read online:<br/>https://fairytalez.com/the-white-hare-and-the-crocodiles/</p>
<p>The bedtime story with the wealthy man and the swan-geese is largely based on the Chinese fairytale, The Man Who Would Not Scold (The original story ends much nicer than the version Lu Ten tells Zuko and Azula, which may or may not have been the work of a mischievous older cousin trying to scare his impressionable young relatives...), and can be read here:<br/>https://fairytalez.com/man-not-scold/</p>
<p>The last riddle the spirit gives Zuko is an adapted version of the Three Gods Problem, a logic puzzle written in 1996 by a philosopher and logician named George Boolos, and widely considered to be the hardest logic puzzle ever (in the original riddle, there is no way to stop imagining - I am nice to Zuko sometimes!). If you are curious, you can read the actual answer here:<br/>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKvjIsyYng8</p>
<p>... I maybe had too much fun doing research for this chapter. </p>
<p>All feedback is appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. A Fool's Errand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Content Warnings: panic attacks</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The water was sloshing side to side in the bucket as he began to return to the entrance, acutely aware of the fact that the landscape of the cavern was changing. In the place where there was previously a large canyon, there was a simple wooden bridge. Which felt too easy, and he momentarily considered not using the bridge at all. He decided against it eventually mostly because he was not sure how he was supposed to jump down again without spilling the water. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He still did not trust the bridge, and crossed quickly, waiting for it to collapse behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It didn’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Things were moving faster now that he knew the way, which he had predicted earlier, but found slightly suspect. He could still hear the skittering of someone, or something, moving behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The air outside of the cavern was still, and the fog outside rolled in lazy waves amongst the trees with bark so dark it looked charred. He dropped to a crouch, pouring the bucketful of water into the empty pond. It settled against the dirt, a dark muddied color that surprised him with its contrast to the vibrant blue it had in the heart of the cavern. Which, he thought, was a rather stupid thing to be surprised at. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard a deep growl behind him and turned to face Mango, who had curled around the entrance to the cavern and was still watching him carefully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You made me go in alone,” he said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango said nothing in response, which was something of the expected reaction. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Were you not allowed?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was likewise met with no movement in response. Zuko thought he might have caught something like agreement in the dragon’s expression, though he might have been willing it into existence himself, out of a childish desire to not be purposefully left alone.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll be back,” he said in Mango’s general direction. It was preferable to acknowledging the likelihood that he was speaking to himself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The trek back through the cavern was easier, and the fact that he’d remembered to pick up the spark rocks before reentering made much quicker work of it. When he descended the stairs to the cavern the next time, he was considering the fact that the task might not be altogether deliberately impossible. It was monotonous, certainly, and he was hungry and tired and every part of his body seemed to ache, but a bucket was much easier than a thimble, so things could feasibly get worse, which was something of a novelty all on its own.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was amidst these thoughts that he began, deliberately, on some unconscious level, ignoring the fact that the light in the cavern was slightly dimmer than it had been the first time he arrived, and the koi fish in the pond swam to the other side as he approached, as if he were some sort of predator. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Yue was fiddling with several pieces of the long grass that lined the pond’s edge, weaving them together in a gesture that seemed much more natural for a fifteen-year-old girl than a centuries-old spirit. When she noticed him looking, she stopped abruptly, in the process, yanking the three blades of grass from the ground with their roots dangling beneath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s no need.” He hesitated. It had been a great number of years, he realized, since he’d had a proper conversation with a human who was not some version of himself, and a great deal more since the human in question had been a teenager. “Is everything… alright?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(</span>
  <em>
    <span>Agni</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he hoped that none of his future incarnations asked anything of him beyond general sagely wisdom and stories of the past. He was fond of Aang but harbored a great, secret fear that the boy might someday ask him for advice in how best to court the water-tribe girl, and he would be left as floundering as he had been when he’d first tried to ask Ta Min to tea, and had looked so grim and nervous doing so that she had asked him if someone had died.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s nothing,” she said. “I just feel..”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Homesick?” He suggested.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her shoulders dropped a fraction. “I am so grateful to the Spirits, and honored for the chance, and will do my best to -” she stopped herself, and nodded “-but yes, I guess I am.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It must be strange to be here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had walked the Spirit World for years before becoming a quasi-permanent resident. Yue’s connection to the Moon Spirit had shaped her life, but he could not imagine how strange and foreign most of the going ons might seem to her. Particularly the Spirit Assembly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s all very new,” she said tactfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It will become less new, with time,” he said. Eventually, her consciousness would meld with the Moon Spirit entirely, being at once both herself and something quite different. The two sides were still discordant, however, and not quite in line with each other. Tui and La knew better than most how the most massive shifts took gradual phasing.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything feels very… untouchable,” she finally said. “Like they operate by a set of rules I don’t fully understand. He-” with this she nodded to the pond. “- was not my friend. But he makes sense to me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Back in the mortal world, they operate by their own kind of logic,” Roku allowed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That they do.” She smiled then like she was thinking of something or someone in particular. Roku thought it best not to pry in that regard. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can see why Tui is so fond of you,” he said, instead. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How so?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is the moon’s nature to try and understand.” </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The changes in the lighting of the cavern were becoming distinctly harder to ignore. Which was unfortunate for Zuko, who was, at this point, deliberately trying to ignore them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I helped the man with his rocks,” he said to Mango, pouring another bucketful of water into the slowly forming pond outside of the cavern. The dirt swirled upwards, and the pond looked unclean, and impossibly still. “I got those people across the canyon.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned to face the Mango.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>incredibly</span>
  </em>
  <span> close to finishing. Does there have to be something else?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A lazy claw was dragged back and forth across the grass, collecting burrs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean, does there really? Does there </span>
  <em>
    <span>always </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>another thing</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(The answer to that question has historically been yes. Which was another fact he was deliberately ignoring.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Having received no answer from the dragon, he stomped back into the cave, which would have been more satisfying had he been wearing boots that echoed around the stone, rather than barefoot. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he reached the heart of the cavern again, it was too much to ignore. The edge of the water had begun to darken, closely resembling that of the corrupted pond outside. The koi fish, which had initially been a rather spectacular gold, had begun to fade to a sort of middling brown. When Zuko crouched at the edge of the pond, it swam away from him, hesitating before reaching the opposite end where the water had darkened. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s okay,” Zuko said, trying to soften his voice. “I’m not going to hurt you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was only once he’d said it that he realized it might be a lie. The messenger had told him to transport only the water. Only </span>
  <em>
    <span>all </span>
  </em>
  <span>of the water. And without the water, the fish would almost certainly die. He shifted forwards, dipping the tips of his fingers into the water, and, after a few moments, the fish tentatively swam forward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t want to hurt you, at least,” he said as if that mattered somehow. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fish were, by nature, unblinking, but this one seemed to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>especially </span>
  </em>
  <span>unblinking, to a </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhat disconcerting </span>
  </em>
  <span>degree.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll ask, okay?” he said. “Maybe there’s somewhere else I can put you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t remember there being a pond anywhere else, but there must be, somewhere, and he could scoop up the fish in the bucket of water and carry it there, and be back in time to complete the task, and it would all be fine. Everything would work fine. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he scooped up the next bucketful of water, the fish drew back from his hand as if he’d struck it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The bucket felt heavier on the return trip back. The surface of the pond outside barely rippled as he added it, seeming to absorb rather than adopt the addition. Zuko swallowed and glanced at the pond, only to realize the darkness completely obscured his reflection. Which, retrospectively, was probably for the best. He took the hourglass carefully, as if he had not jumped off of a cliff wearing it, and examined the knob on the underside. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned it three times. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had not expected an immediate response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Have you completed the task?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He dropped to a crouch somewhat belatedly, one of his hands pressed uncomfortably into a burr, and wished he’d had the foresight to get into the correct position </span>
  <em>
    <span>before </span>
  </em>
  <span>summoning the spirit. The messenger had the kind of voice that made everything sound angry, and Zuko was not entirely sure if it was intentional or not. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m very close, um, sir,” he should probably have also settled on an appropriate form of address.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But not yet completed?” The anger might be intentional. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why,” the spirit continued. Zuko studied the back of his hands, trying to ignore the tension through his spine. “Have you summoned me here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I apologize,” he began. “I do not mean to waste your time-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If you do not mean to waste my time, then you better get to your point.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right. Of course. I’m sorry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This was a terrible idea, and he could not, for the life of him, imagine how he had ever considered it to be anything but.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have concerns about the pond at the heart of the cavern.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was not your task to ‘have concerns.’”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I know,” his mouth was incredibly dry. He ought to stop talking now, really. “It’s only - there is a koi fish. In the pond.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if I move all of the water to this pond,” he said, not gesturing to the pond he was referencing for almost ten seconds and then doing so somewhat jerkily, with the impression of the burrs red on his palm. “It will die.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ah,” the messenger said, his voice suddenly calmer. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>That </span>
  </em>
  <span>is not something to concern yourself with.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, it’ll be fine?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A beat. “Of course.”</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Flying at night always sounded like a good idea, right up until it was just past midnight and the rest of the group, seated comfortably on Appa’s back, had begun to fall asleep, and Aang was still sitting on the saddle, staring up at the moon. It was a cloudless night, and the sky was a kind of shadowed blue that, were he more poetically minded, he might have compared to the sea.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(Once, he’d asked the Monks why the sky was blue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because it reflects off the sea,” Monk Gyatso had told him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then why is the sea blue?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because it reflects off the sky.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He still wasn’t entirely sure if he’d been messing with him or not.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Logically, he knew nothing was preventing him from sliding off the back of the saddle and crawling in next to Sokka, Toph, and Katara to sleep for a few hours before morning. Appa’s sense of direction was actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>better </span>
  </em>
  <span>when left to his own devices. But the idea of trying to fall asleep and failing sounded much worse than never trying altogether.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“It doesn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel </span>
  </em>
  <span>fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango tilted his head in some serpentine form of agreement, or at least that was what Zuko assumed, based on a very limited understanding of dragons and their forms of communication. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think it’s scared of me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was not sure what to do with the feeling, though it was admittedly not unfamiliar.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I should just trust the messenger, right? He’s a Spirit, and should know better.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dragon shifted again, wings folded neatly against his sides, neck curled around the small, darkened pond that was by now nearly full. If he were to guess, Zuko would approximate two to three more trips should finish the task. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s stupid to question it </span>
  <em>
    <span>now.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango was a bit non-committal on the subject. Zuko groaned and laid back against the ground.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wish I could talk to Uncle. He’d know what to do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was only met with silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m way too close to stop!” He sat back up abruptly, and curled his fingers into fists, dimly aware that, at one point, he’d implemented a no-shouting rule. “That would be ridiculous! Why do I even care about some stupid fish? It’s a fish! In a pond in a cavern in the Spirit World. It might not even be real. Maybe it’s part of the test. What even </span>
  <em>
    <span>is </span>
  </em>
  <span>the test?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango was not responding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?” He stood up and began pacing, which was wholly unsatisfying without the thunk of boots on stone. “I don’t understand the rules and </span>
  <em>
    <span>no one </span>
  </em>
  <span>has explained them and every time I run into a person they disappear into nothing! Are they real? Is there even a test?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned and stopped suddenly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or is this it? Are they trying to drive me crazy by giving me a stupid random task to do forever? Is </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>a punishment? And now, I’m talking to a </span>
  <em>
    <span>dragon </span>
  </em>
  <span>like it’s a person who might </span>
  <em>
    <span>answer me </span>
  </em>
  <span>and I don’t want to be here and I don’t want to do this and I just - I just want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>go home</span>
  </em>
  <span>!” With that, he threw the bucket in his hand as hard as possible into the forest, where it disappeared into the fog entirely.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just want to go home,” he said after the clattering faded back into silence, feeling entirely exhausted and more confused than before. Some (large) part of him wanted to sink into the uncomfortable, burr studded grass and stare into nothing for a while, but another (assertive) part of him knew that if he did that, the chances of him getting up afterward were somewhat slim, and that would remove all of his choices entirely. “Why does it always have to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>complicated</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And with that he began to creep into the fog to retrieve the bucket, trying to focus on keeping his maneuvers steady enough that he could return easily since he didn’t have the sun to trace in the sky to find his way back the way he usually did. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(</span>
  <em>
    <span>Agni</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he missed bending.)</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“He was not supposed to do that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roku was now stilling very still, expression tight.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.” And, in retrospect, they perhaps should have better accounted for this possibility. The entire point of this venture was to keep him away from the fog, and what lurked within. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How should we proceed?” He turned to a nearby spirit, who, if he recalled correctly, had been one of the dissenters in the initial debate. The spirit’s piscine expression was sympathetic but hard. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There is nothing we can do at this point.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ruko closed his eyes and tried to call upon Fang. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The fog made it difficult to locate much of anything, and he had to focus entirely on the ground if he hoped to be able to see the bucket, which made it challenging, especially for someone whose peripheral vision was already somewhat limited, to notice other things he might be walking into, such as trees. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ow,” he muttered, stumbling back, and rubbing the flat of his palm against his forehead. He thought he saw the bucket handle, and sighed with relief, crouching into the darkness to grab it, the metal of the handle cool curled under his palm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which was the exact moment the fog around him began to part, slowly, and he realized he was crouched not on the burr covered forest floor, but on a thin layer of sand. A cold feeling settled over him, and he closed his eyes tightly, gripping the handle of the bucket, trying to keep the sensation at the forefront of his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>The fog of lost souls, </span>
  </em>
  <span>his text had read, </span>
  <em>
    <span>is an endless forest wherein those who offend the Spirits most grievously are trapped, and forced to relive their worst memories, over and over again.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Beyond closed eyes, he could feel the heat of ceremonial torches. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” he told himself. “No. No. Not now. I just need to-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You will fight for your honor</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Where was Mango? Where had the cavern been, exactly? He chanced a look but saw nothing but the fire nation pavilion before squeezing them shut again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This isn’t real,” he said. “This is just the - the fog playing tricks.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Rise and fight!”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was suddenly finding it very difficult to breathe. He gripped the handle tighter, placing his other hand on the ground to try and steady himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry, I didn’t - I didn’t -”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>You will learn respect!”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t mean any disrespect,” he was vaguely aware of the presence of a world around him but for the moment it seemed distant, echoing, and far away. All he could hear was his father’s voice and his own gasping for breath, his limbs somehow both rigid enough to strain and so weak he wasn’t sure how they were supporting his body. He blinked for a second, realizing that at some point he must have started crying. “I didn’t mean-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>And suffering will be your teacher.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” From his position on the ground, his father was nothing but a silhouette in his peripheral vision. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have,” he said to the ground, his voice trembling weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>What?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I have,” he said again, digging one palm into the ground. “I have suffered and I have learned! What more do you want from me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>I want you gone.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I want you out of my head!” He turned around, standing on unsteady limbs. “You’re not even my father. You’re just - you’re just in my head. And I want to </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop imagining!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The silhouette of his father leaned back, fire lit in its palm. It didn’t respond to him. It wasn’t a person. It was a memory. And it melded back into the darkness leaving him alone. At which point his legs gave out from under him and he collapsed to the ground, burying his face into his arms, his entire body twitching with each gasping breath. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>“Tui and La,” Yue said softly, the irony of using her name as a swear all but lost.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>He felt a soft pawing at his side and blinked, slowly uncurling from his fetal position.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mango?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dragon lowered his face close to Zuko’s and sniffed him, looking draconic, but concerned. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I don’t know the way back,” he managed weakly, as he felt a surprisingly gentle nudging at the side of his face, urging him up. “Have I already run out of time?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If the state of his test was any concern of Mango's, the dragon did not show it and instead continued fussing over him, as if he were a small child.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I’m okay,” he said. A lie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I need to get back.” The truth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Could you - could you show me the way?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dragon nodded its agreement, and Zuko fell into step at its side, clutching the bucket close to his chest as if it might be taken from him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How much of that did you see?” he managed to say after a moment. Mango turned to him and nudged his hand gently. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Enough.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then he felt a hand clamping on his shoulder. Zuko was still too unstable to throw him off, but Mango hissed, tail slamming against the ground. The man he’d encountered earlier stared at him, eyes narrowed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am not a thief,” the man hissed into his ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let go,” he said, grabbing to pry the man’s fingers from his arm. His breathing was not yet normal, and the attempt was weak at best. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have to understand,” the man said, running them through his hair, which hung loosely in front of his face in gray, snakelike curls that must have blocked his vision at least somewhat. “They’re hiding it from me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The people in your town?” Zuko guessed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They stole it. </span>
  <em>
    <span>They</span>
  </em>
  <span> are the thieves. They took it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The relic, the temple,” the man turned to look at Zuko imploringly. “I would not make the same mistakes with another chance. I wouldn’t hesitate this time. I would find it. No matter what it took.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think you're mistaking me,” he said, trying to inch away further. “I can’t help you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That provoked a laugh, a harsh, humorless sound which quickly dissolved into coughing. Zuko stood frozen, unsure as to whether or not it was in his best interests to help. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“With another chance, I’d kill them all,” the man said. “I’d find it. I’d find it then, and they couldn’t leave me here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You want to kill a whole town full of people?” Zuko repeated, easing away, further, his back pressing into the scales at Mango’s neck. “You think that’s better?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His eyes settled onto Zuko and his smile could cut glass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course not! You can’t just-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wouldn’t you? If it meant getting out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If it meant returning home?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(The Agni Kai, his father, he didn’t think he could do that again even once, never mind eternally, and he didn’t want to but he wasn’t sure he could, he didn’t know-)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(He was standing on top of the snow, looking at the small cluster of houses, the assembled crowd made up entirely of old women and young children. Where were their fighters? Why were they alone? If he could just - if he could just </span>
  <em>
    <span>scare </span>
  </em>
  <span>them, then they’d just do what he said and everything would be fine. And then suddenly everything was out of control and the Avatar was a child and he couldn’t back down anymore and he made a deal and it backfired horribly but he </span>
  <em>
    <span>gave his word </span>
  </em>
  <span>and his word </span>
  <em>
    <span>meant something </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he never wanted to go back to that Agni forsaken place and the looks they gave him there-)</span>
</p>
<p><span>“No.” He didn’t think he could. It was </span><em><span>weak. </span></em><span>It was </span><em><span>exactly </span></em><span>the kind of behavior his father would be disappointed in.</span> <span>But with no one but a half-delirious stranger, a silent dragon, and the fog looking in on him, it felt pointless to lie. “I wouldn’t.”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Then you’re a fool. And a coward.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And then the part of him that still felt raw and exposed hardened and he shoved the man backward. He toppled to the ground and stared up at Zuko with an expression of both disgust and contempt, which did nothing to soothe the fire flickering in his chest (and yes, </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>was the feeling, he had missed it).</span>
</p>
<p><span>“And you are a </span><em><span>bitter old man </span></em><span>trapped in a </span><em><span>field of eternal torment</span></em><span>!</span> <span>And I don’t have to listen to you.”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>“If you aren’t willing to do what it takes, do you think you’ll ever get out?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“If I don’t draw the line </span>
  <em>
    <span>somewhere </span>
  </em>
  <span>what does it mean if I do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(His word </span>
  <em>
    <span>meant something </span>
  </em>
  <span>and things </span>
  <em>
    <span>mattered </span>
  </em>
  <span>and sometimes it was better to save his Uncle, to help the people across the canyon, to carry some stranger Agni-forsaken </span>
  <em>
    <span>rocks </span>
  </em>
  <span>then leave it all behind and it didn’t mean he’d given up, it only meant he wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>Zhao </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he wasn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>Azula </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he wasn’t-)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just - just leave me alone!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Behind him, he felt Mango shift, lowering his head to the ground so that his neck was exposed behind Zuko, his tail curling around him protectively. Zuko looked at the dragon cautiously.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you mean you want me to-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango appeared to nod in agreement. Zuko had never ridden a dragon before and was not sure he would be especially adept at it, but he was more unsure of his legs’ ability to carry him further at this point, and climbed on slowly, wrapping his arms tightly around the dragon’s neck and closing his eyes as he pressed his face into the scales, which did not rub against him nearly as uncomfortably as he might have guessed. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The first time Roku had ridden Fang, he had fallen off. Several times. In several different ways of increasing improbability. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This appeared to be a heritable condition. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The heart of the cavern was almost entirely faded by the time Zuko reached it. He did not bother to look at the hourglass and simply sank to the ground beside the pond, threading his fingers through the soft grasses.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.” He told the fish, who was, by now, swimming in tight circles in the center of the pond, in a circle of clear water scarcely long enough for an entire rotation. “I don’t think I can do that again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fish, being a fish, made no gesture of agreement of disagreement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just need to-”  He stopped and adjusted, closing his eyes and taking a slow breath. “I need to stop imagining,” he said into the darkness. “I just need to think.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And so he set the bucket on the ground beside him and took a few labored breaths, willing the world around him to dissolve. And in the heart of a cavern in the Fog of Lost souls, the Prince of the Fire Nation found himself able to properly meditate. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The sound of his friends sleeping was calming in its own strange sort of way. Aang settled into an appropriate pose and closed his eyes. As he did so, Momo leapt up from the pile and curled around his shoulders like a scarf. A warm, wriggling scarf, whose tail flicked in front of his face making him have to sneeze. Aang did not have the heart to move him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was not an ideal state of affairs for meditation, but then again, was it ever?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Avatar Roku?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Hello, Aang.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not sure what to do about Zuko.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Roku nodded once, his expression carefully neutral. A kind of neutral that meant he </span>
  <em>
    <span>did </span>
  </em>
  <span>have an opinion but was not going to tell Aang what it was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It is not my job to tell you what to do.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know,” Aang looked around. “But if it was, what would you say?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I would tell you to trust yourself.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which was </span>
  <em>
    <span>such </span>
  </em>
  <span>a ‘Cryptic Previous Avatar’ kind of answer. Behind Roku, Toph rolled over in her sleep, kicking absently forwards, directly into Sokka, who made a half-hearted flapping motion with one of his hands in response.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My friends don’t think I should help him. They think that we’re better off without him chasing us. But I’ve been to the Spirit World. It isn’t always a nice place.” He sighed. “And I know Zuko isn’t always a nice guy, but the Moon Spirit… that wasn’t his fault. And if he passes your test, that means something, right? That he’s a good person, deep down, or something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It does mean something. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Roku did not elaborate on that particular thought. Which was more or less what Aang had expected. </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>The messenger met him outside the cavern, and Zuko bowed, one fist curled under an open palm, his fingers spread like the eternal flame. It was a gesture of respect, according to his Uncle, but not one of supplication. If the change was something the Spirit deems worthy of note, he did not comment on it. He did not look at Zuko at all, and instead moved to the edge of the pond, and looked down. His face was still entirely masked by light, which flushed in from a pure white to burnt orange as he spun around to face Zuko.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What is this?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My lord?” He had still not entirely worked out the form of address and realized belatedly that ‘my lord’ was the one that the Spirit had specifically rejected.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have not completed the task set out for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - have not.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“This pond is </span>
  <em>
    <span>entirely empty.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he returned the water to the pond at the heart of the cave, it had returned to its natural blue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It is.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you understand what that means for you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something tight coiled in the pit of his stomach, but he managed to not weakly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then would you care to tell me what exactly your intention is here? To so flagrantly abandon your purpose?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I did not -” He stopped himself. “I did not flagrantly abandon anything, um, sir. Moving the water - it weakened the cavern, and seemed to… corrupt the environment around it. And I didn’t want to do that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even though it means you’ll never leave this place?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He studied his feet for a moment, not trusting himself entirely to look up, but nodded.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?” The question was flat.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because I realized you - </span>
  <em>
    <span>I </span>
  </em>
  <span>have to draw the line somewhere. And it felt… wrong.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It felt wrong?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And you’re prepared to give up, just because of that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t say ‘give up’,” he said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And </span>
  <em>
    <span>what </span>
  </em>
  <span>would you say instead?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I asked the Spirit in the riddles game how to finish the task and get out. It said there wasn’t a way. And it was right. Because, I think, the only way to finish the task would be to do the thing that got me stuck here in the first place. To destroy an oasis. Which is kind of, a cycle?” he swallowed. “And I don’t think that proves anything. Just… following a cycle. So I didn’t. And I am prepared to accept the punishment.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He was not especially articulate and was aware of that, but the Spirit turned to face him, the light behind its face dimming slightly to reveal the faintest image of quasi-human features. Features which were upturned slightly in a strange expression that was almost… pleased. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are prepared to accept the punishment?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” The word sounded strange and weak, but he forced himself to look up as he said it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then your punishment is simple. You are banished.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart sank for half a second, the familiar words, and then he stopped.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Beg pardon?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“From this place. The Fog of Lost Souls does not </span>
  <em>
    <span>want you.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I - I can leave?” he blinked. “But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>failed-</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>must </span>
  </em>
  <span>leave. Now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh,” he said. “Oh. Okay. I will just… go, then.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Zuko nodded, turning to the dragon. There was a brief silence, and the form of the messenger flickered slightly, the contours of its face looking different - vaguely familiar - beneath the light. When it spoke again, it’s tone was softer than he knew to expect. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You did well.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The words lodged strangely in the pit of Zuko's stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Assembly was very impressed,” the messenger continued. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What exactly was different about him now, Zuko was unsure, but he seemed distinctly more approachable all of a sudden. As if a different person were inhabiting the shape. Less… Father, more Uncle. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Thank you,” his voice sounded slightly strangled. “Is it okay - can I ask a question?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The messenger nodded, looking strangely indulgent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The people in the cave - are they real or was that part of the test?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything you saw </span>
  <em>
    <span>in</span>
  </em>
  <span> the cavern was part of the test.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looked at Mango. Past Mango. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And outside?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fang is decidedly real.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fang?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The dragon huffed slightly, turning to look at Zuko and the messenger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He does not mind you calling him Mango. And would, in fact, ask you to continue to do so.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is he yours?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He is his own,” the spirit said. “But he likes you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango nudged Zuko’s hand with his head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like you too,” Zuko said quietly. The messenger cleared his throat, like he was about to say something else, but decided against it. By the time Zuko looked back, he had disappeared. Standing alone, outside the cavern, he felt his shoulders relax a fraction, as he slumped, half exhausted against the warm, comforting presence of the dragon behind him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you say we get out of here?” Zuko suggested. Mango lowered his head obligingly.</span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Roku settled back down next to Yue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Someone </span>
  </em>
  <span>needed to,” he said by way of explanation. Of that, he was certain. “If not there, then here at least.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They aren’t so different,” she said after a moment, brushing absently at the woven stalks of flowers surrounding them. “Or they don’t have to be.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Roku admitted. “I suppose they aren’t.” </span>
</p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>Beyond the fog, the colors were more vibrant, bright, and rich in a way that almost made his head hurt. Mango lowered his head to the ground, and he slid off, feet sinking into the soft grass. Zuko turned, looking around. There was </span>
  <em>
    <span>movement </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>other living things </span>
  </em>
  <span>that did not seem to be trying to kill him, which was more or less a welcome change.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mango snorted, and Zuko turned around before freezing, eyes locking on bright orange and yellow. At which point he found himself entirely unsure of what to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, hi! I’ve been looking for you,” said the Avatar.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry, this part took longer to get to you all; I hope you enjoyed! Any and all feedback is appreciated! </p>
<p>Since this is the final part, I wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much to everyone who has read/left kudos/commented - you all have been so lovely and supportive and it has honestly meant so much to me. :)</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading! </p>
<p>Feel free to chat with me on Tumblr, @itsthenovelteafactor</p></blockquote></div></div>
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